The weekend before Valentine’s Day was a huge one for the box office back in 2017, with a kid movie (The LEGO Batman Movie), an action film (John Wick Part II) and a 50 Shades of Grey sequel racking up nearly $130 million between them. Studios offered the same mix of films this year — a kid movie (Peter Rabbit), an action movie (The 15:17 to Paris) and the final Fifty Shades movie — but came up more than $50 million short of last year’s numbers.
Fifty Shades Freed, however, mostly held up its end of the bargain, earning $40 million, down only slightly from the $46 million earned by Fifty Shades Darker last year. That movie would go on to earn over $100 million domestically and nearly $400 million worldwide. Expect similar results from Freed despite terrible reviews (11 percent on Rotten Tomatoes). The movies, based on the EL James novels, have a built-in fanbase who have seen the first two movies and are mostly determined to finish out the trilogy. The B+ CinemaScore also reflects that this one is being seen almost exclusively by fans of the novel, as opposed to Fifty Shades of Grey (C+ Cinemascore), which was being sampled by curious onlookers, most of whom didn’t like what they saw, hence the 50 percent drop in opening weekends from Grey ($85 million) to Darker ($46 million). The good news for non-Fifty Shades fans is that, now that the trilogy is done, it opens the weekend back up to more traditional romantic comedies. In fact, Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron’s romcom Flarsky has already called dibs on this weekend for 2019.
Meanwhile, in at second place is Peter Rabbit, which didn’t have the box office juice of last year’s The LEGO Batman ($53 million). Peter Rabbit, which has been badly marketed, grabbed just $22 million on a $50 million price tag. That is also down from the $37 million scored by the last bunny-themed kids movie, Hop, although Peter Rabbit can at least boast a much better Rotten Tomatoes score (58 percent compared to Hop’s 25 percent). Rabbit should nevertheless have decent legs at the box office, though it will have to face off against Aardman’s Early Man next weekend.
Third place goes to The 15:17 to Paris, Clint Eastwood’s attempt to recreate the 2015 Thalys train attack using the actual American men who foiled the attack. It did not sit well with either critics (20 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) or audiences (a B- Cinemascore), in large part because despite Eastwood’s best intentions, he fails to deliver much in the way of drama. The $11 million tally is Eastwood’s worst opening since Jersey Boys in 2014.
The gas is finally starting to run out of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which fell to fourth place this week with $9.6 million, which still gives it the eighth best eighth weekend ever at the box-office. It has now accumulated $365 million, making it Sony’s second-biggest movie ever, behind only Spider-Man 2. A sequel is now in the works, although it may need to wait awhile because Dwayne Johnson has a lot on his plate, including three movies due out this year including a San Andreas sequel, a Fast & Furious spin-off, and a global heist thriller, Red Line.
The Greatest Showman also continues to perform well, now in its eighth week. It amassed $6.1 million for a total of $146 million. It is now one of the 10 leggiest films of all time.
The rest of the weekend’s top ten are all holdovers. Maze Runner: Death Cure added $5.7 million, as it inches toward $50 million. Winchester took a 50 percent spill in its second weekend, earning $4.7 million to bring its total to $14 million. Steven Spielberg’s The Post has quietly nearly reached $75 million after adding another $3.3 million this weekend. Another Oscar contender, The Shape of Water, earned $3 million and has now earned $50 million overall. Den of Thieves finishes out the top ten with $2.7 million and $40 million total.
Next weekend will be a huge one for the box office, as Black Panther is shaping up to have a $130-$160 opening. Early Man and the faith-based drama, Samson, will also compete for a small slice of next weekend’s box-office pie.
(Via Deadline/Box Office Mojo)
